United States presidential election, 2020 (Goldentrash)
|- | colspan="4" style="vertical-align:top;"| |- | colspan="4" style="vertical-align:top;text-align:center;"| ---- |- | colspan="4" style="vertical-align:top;text-align:center;" width="349"|Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Trump/Pence, blue denotes those won by Zuckerberg/Hickenlooper. Numbers indicate electoral votes allotted to the winner of each state. |- | colspan="4" style="vertical-align:top;"| ---- |} The United States presidential election of 2020 was the 59th quadrennial U.S. presidential election, held on November 3, 2020. The incumbent, President was eligible to run for re-election and he affirmed his intention to do so on April 16, 2019. He had filed the necessary FEC paperwork only a few hours after his first term began on January 20, 2017. He and his running mate, former Indiana Governor and incumbent Vice-President , secured the Republican nomination on July 2, 2020 with no serious opposition. Facebook founder and CEO was the first Democrat to declare his candidacy on May 8, 2018. The Democratic Party primaries contained four other major candidates: Massachusetts Senator , Colorado Governor , California Governor , and Ohio Congressman . The first primary, held in Iowa, was won by Elizabeth Warren and she was the clear frontrunner for the starting phases of the campaign. Her lead began to decline and she lost crucial states during Super Tuesday on March 1 to Mark Zuckerberg, who at the time, was not considered a significant contender. By April, the race had essentially come down to Warren and Zuckerberg, the latter of whom winning the Florida, Ohio, and Missouri primaries. He also won the Democrats Abroad primary. As the convention drew closer, neither candidate had enough delegates to be declared the presumptive nominee and it came down to the New Jersey primary, which Zuckerberg won narrowly with 50.6% of the vote. At the Democratic convention on July 8, 2020, Zuckerberg was formally nominated for President of the United States after which Warren suspended her campaign and endorsed Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg announced he had chosen John Hickenlooper to be his running mate, who had suspended his campaign after poor performance in his home state of Colorado. Trump defeated Zuckerberg with 288 electoral votes and 49.6% of the popular vote and retained some "blue wall" states he had won in 2016 including Michigan, Pensylvania, and Iowa. He also carried New Hampshire which, despite its growing status as a swing-state, no Republican had done since 2000. Although Zuckerberg lost, he was the first Democrat to carry the state of Arizona since 1996 and won Wisconsin, one of the "blue wall" states Trump had won in 2016 that was integral to his victory. The popular vote margin was much narrower than in 2016 although unlike 2016, Trump won both the popular vote and the electoral vote. Third party candidates included for the and for the who previously ran in the 2016 and 2012 elections. Background The incumbent, was elected on November 8, 2016 in a surprise victory over Democratic nominee . Most major polls showed Clinton maintaining a comfortable lead over Trump in the days before the election but ultimately Trump won with 306 electoral votes. He did not win the popular vote, however, and is the fifth President to win the electoral vote but not the popular vote. The first year of Trump's presidency saw a decline in unemployment and gains in the stock market. Within Trump's first six months, he announced the United States' intention to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, nominated for the Supreme Court (who was confirmed in April 2017), and perhaps most controversially, signed an executive order that prohibited immigration from predominately Muslim countries. The order went through various legal wrangling before the Supreme Court allowed certain provisions to remain in effect until the case could be decided. Allegations of Trump's campaign colluding with Russia to interfere with the 2016 election haunted the administration throughout and continued into Trump's second year as President. The 2018 midterm elections saw the Republicans gain six seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and one seat in the U.S. Senate. Most notably, , also known as "Kid Rock" defeated incumbent in Michigan. Trump was reportedly disappointed by the result, as he hoped to increase the Republican's majority in both houses by a further margin. Republican Party Donald Trump filed the necessary paperwork to run in the 2020 election on January 20, 2017, just five hours after he was sworn in. Throughout his presidency, he held rallies across the country, unusual for a modern president. On April 16, 2019, Trump reaffirmed that he intended to run in 2020, dispelling speculation that he might decline a second term. He entered with the race with incumbent Vice-President Mike Pence and secured the Republican nomination virtually unopposed. Democratic Party After the loss of Hillary Clinton in 2016, there was much speculation regarding the future of the Democratic Party. In mid-2017, the Democrats, led by , unveiled a plan entitled a "Better Deal for the American Worker" which included over $1 trillion in infrastructure investment, raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, and guaranteeing sick and maternal leave in the United States. The Democrats failed to make any significant gains in the 2018 midterm elections which prompted urgent action according to many within the party. Mark Zuckerberg hinted he would run in late-2017 but declined to offer a definitive answer. , the senior Senator from Massachusetts, was a clear favorite to run, especially by former supports of in 2016, with whom she shared many ideals. Mark Zuckerberg was the first to announce his candidacy for the Democratic Party on May 8, 2018. Elizabeth Warren was next four months later on September 1. The first polls in the Democratic primaries put Warren in a comfortable lead and she won the Iowa primary by 55%; Zuckerberg came in third at only 13%. Warren did very well in New Hampshire, securing 59% of the vote. Warren also picked up victories in Kansas and Maine but lost Nebraska to John Hickenlooper. Zuckerberg secured his first major wins in Minnesota, Oklahoma, and most notably, Colorado, prompting the suspension of Hickenlooper's campaign. Warren then began to struggle from then on, winning tenuously in Mississippi while Zuckerberg began to build momentum, winning Michigan by four percentage points. On March 17, Zuckerberg won every Super Tuesday state except Illinois, which gave him a far lead over Warren. Warren responded by winning Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, and Oregon which closed the gap with Zuckerberg and denied him being considered the presumptive nominee. The race came down to the final Super Tuesday bloc in which Zuckerberg won the states of Connecticut, Delaware, California, and New Jersey. Warren did not drop out of the race until the Democratic Convention was in Portland, Oregon where Zuckerberg was formally nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate. Warren conceded and suspended her campaign and offered her endorsement to Zuckerberg. Third parties Campaigns Trump Trump's campaign emphasized Zuckerberg's youth for much of the campaign. The election featured both the oldest person ever to be elected President, and one of the youngest candidates in modern American history. Trump questioned Zuckerberg's role as the CEO of Facebook, which Trump argued is "The largest collection of personal information on the planet." He went on to say that if Zuckerberg is elected and does not step down as CEO of Facebook, it would create a bigger conflict-of-interest than "...my businesses ever did." Trump also highlighted his administration's accomplishments notably reform of the media industry. The reintroduction of the Fairness Doctrine was hailed as a step towards, as Trump put it "An honest media. A media that tells the truth, which is what we, as Americans, want to hear." Trump's economic platform was mostly the same as 2016 with focus on bringing jobs back to America and striking fairer trade deals with other nations. Zuckerberg Zuckerberg's campaign focused on rejuvenating the Democratic Party. He pledged to be a compromise between the progressive coalition (mostly people who supported Warren in the primaries and Bernie Sanders in 2016) and the traditional Democratic base, which Zuckerberg believed had been lost because of the party's attempt at "Winning through divide-and-conquer." While Trump criticized Zuckerberg's youth, Zuckerberg embraced it, arguing he would be a voice for Millennials in the country. Debates Polling Because of Trump's surprise win in 2016, many have doubted the reliability of polling. Nevertheless, currently, most polls show Zuckerberg with a slight lead in most toss-ups states. In Florida, Zuckerberg has a 3% lead over Trump and a 2% lead in Ohio. In Michigan, Zuckerberg is polling at 49% to Trump's 44% according to FiveThirtyEight; Trump won Michigan in 2016 and it was of key states to his victory. Other states that Trump won in 2016 are inconclusive, with many polls showing both Zuckerberg and Trump leading. Nate Silver, the creator of FiveThirtyEight, who gave Trump a 30% chance of winning in 2016 says there is a 24% chance Trump will win in 2020.